In the bustle of news coverage over the past four days one thing struck me me as I listened to Obama before the inauguration—that artists arts education —and are vital to civic life and social renewal. I cannot find the actual quote or the actual video —but I would encourage you to try cable news sites, perhaps Hulu looking for reels from early Monday evning. Regardless of source, as I have it—Obama was reiterating a commitment to the arts along the lines of three key priorities:

1. Expanding public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations
2. Creating an Artists Corps
3. Publicly championing the importance of arts education

Now, we have to go back to Kennedy to hear someone in Obama’s position explicitly define and champion the idea that artists and the arts play an indispensable role in civic life.  Backwards from there—we have to go back to the 40’s and 50’s to see anything approaching Obama’s open armed welcome to creators and authenticators of the human experience. In my time as an educator, a student, an artist, a publisher and a public servant—I have never heard such a fearless affirmation of the arts from without the arts community—and it never made sense to me as my grandparents home, and the theater in my home town featured works from that long ago era. It neither made sense why a dialogue has not been maintained in my time as our greatest national artifacts are the words of poets, cloth cut by designers, halls chiseled by masons imagined by architects—not to mention the phonograph, the microchip and the transformation of an arid godforsaken place called California. I believe anyone would be hard pressed to find a society that more so requires creativity and determination—to advance its ideals and meet its greatest challenges. Personally, I applaud President Obama’s willingness to assert a vision and an appreciation for the arts in civic life—not as it was the easy thing to say—or the right thing to want to do, but, because the wisdom is discrete and its merit, affordable.

The  image that help mobilize the history brought about today—was crafted by Shepard Fairey, a geurilla artist who required little more than paper, ink, gluten and a venue in unclaimed spaces to execute its delivery. The message is simple and powerful —”Hope”. I have heard many denigrate its simplicity by claiming its appeal is emotional while lacking  substance, but I beg to differ understanding a the history of political art this work arrives after. Fairey’s work transcends the affective to strike a chord—as the use of colors red and blue simplifies the face of a man inspired to transcend a treacherous and virulent national dialogue by aiming to chart a new course with all his worth. How fitting it is then, that our feature at this moment in history is Scot Kaplan, an artist who agitates discussion about the location of the commons—and asking us to evaluate space. Indeed, Fairey and Kaplan both renew confidence that artists can satisfy more than those with a for anomie and its spectacle, in sharp contrast, can in fact, nourish purpose and meaning. It is my hope, that when we awake tomorrow—we will do so with a confidence seemingly lost generations ago—that we are rightful custodians and heirs to the idea that civic life is void without the efforts of innovators. That there is no greater canvas or venue we could aspire to—than to secure the story of this time to speak for ourselves and our world—as history has always required—and now insist, we must.

lo

Publisher, semantikon.com/Three Fools Press

Tags: creativity, obama, policy, publishers notes, shepard fairey, the commons

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 12:12 am and is filed under Publisher Notes, guest blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.